Photos from the Farewell Dinner

Trip to Sevan, Noratus and Hayravanq

AAA Interns meet with AYWA president Lilit Asatryan

On the 16^th of August the Assembly’s Summer Internship in Armenia Class of 2011 had a meeting with Lilit Asatryan, the president of Armenian Young Women’s Association (AYWA), as well as with the staff and volunteers of the association. The meeting took place at AAA’s Yerevan Office.

Mrs. Asatryan presented the main activities, goals of AYWA. She also shared with her experience of working with young women in rural areas of Armenia, encouraging them to play a more active part in the society, raising their awareness on different social issues, strengthening their role in all the aspects of the Armenian society, empowering them, etc.

AYWA is a non-profit, non-governmental organization comprised of young people united in their determination to improve the status of women in Armenia. AYWA's mission is to lead social change and to achieve equality of opportunity and reward for all Armenian women, achieving a just and productive society for all.

A lively discussion followed between the AAA Yerevan interns and the members of AYWA on the role of the Armenian women in the Armenian society, the difference between the women in the US and in Armenia, women’s role in the political field, gender equality and so on. 

"Peace Exhibition" at AAA Yerevan Office

On the 8th of July the AAA Yerevan Office in the frameworks of the AAA Youth Club hosted a "Peace Art" Exhibition, which showcased artworks by local young artists.

The exhibition was initiated by a YC member Gohar Mkoyan in frameworks of “Youth Leaders for Peace” project. The project is a part of CMI (Crisis Management Initiative), “The European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno Karabakh” (EPNK) which was launched in November of last year.
EPNK is a partnership of European NGOs working to enact initiatives which will cumulatively contribute to the peaceful settlement over Nagorno Karabakh.

Live classical music was also played by local young musicians.

The AAA SIP interns Tatevik Babayan and Angela Babayan also attended the event. They enjoyed live classical music and the interesting youth artworks, which were also on the topics of peace and understanding.

Trip to Echmiadzin

On the 27 of June, the AAA staff and the interns visited Echmiadzin, the holy center of Armenia and the city where the Catholicos of all Armenians sits.

The interns visited several churches: the church of St. Hripsime, the church of St. Gayane and the Mayr Ator.

The interns also had the opportunity to meet his Holiness Garegin the Second and take the tour of the museum.
They had the unique chance of seeing the golden alphabet and the golden cross.

Yerevan City Tour: Museum Day

Yesterday, on the 20th of June, the interns visited some of the museums in Yerevan and toured Yerevan.
So, the first stop was the Erebouni museum....

(from left to right: Anush's cousin Ani, Anush Petrosyan, Gaya Baloyan, Vram Karakeshishyants, Aram Kavoukjian, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Bedrosian)

Next, they visited the ruins of the old Erebouni fortress on the hill above the museum, took pictures of archaeologists working at the site, jumped from one wall of the fortress to the other and did many more exciting stuff....

  (from left to right: Anush Petrosyan, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Kavoukjian, Aram Bedrosian, Gaya Baloyan)

After that, they went the Genocide museum and put flowers at the Genocide Memorial.

In the end they visited the Cascade museum and saw the works of Tarkowsky. They had a longer stay at the top of Cascade, enjoying the view and taking pictures of the city...

  

Past and Present Interns Meet

Yesterday two interns from the Internship Programs in 2008 and 2009 had a visit to AAA Yerevan Office. They were Zaven Sargsian from the 2008 Internship Program and Sarkis Karapetyan from the 2009 Internship Program. Zaven, who is from Utah, was visiting Armenia for summer and Sarkis, who is also from Utah, now lives here with his fiancee. They shared their experiences and impressions as interns with the current AAA interns in Armenia. The meeting was really fun and motivating. Their discussed topics ranged from politics to the World Cup Championships.

Below is a picture taken at the AAA Yerevan Office during the meeting.

 (from left to right: Zaven Sargsian, Sarkis Karapetyan, Vram Karakeshishyants, Armina Darbinian, Aram Bedrosian) 

First Meetings

Today, early in the morning, Anush Petrosyan arrived.
"From the day I left my country I wanted to go back and live there again. With this internship I hope to gain more insight about my country and have another chance to self-actualize myself as a human being. I was very young, when I came from Armenia and didn't apprehend the importance of my country. Now, I have come to a critical time to choose a path in life. To be able to do this, I need to go back to my roots and have an enriching experience about political, economic, cultural, foreign affairs of Armenia."

Around 10 am in the morning Aram and Diana were at the Yerevan Office, both formally dressed, for their first day of internship at the Armenian Development Agency. They had a brief conversation with country director Armina Darbinian at the AAA office then left for the Armenian Development Agency for their instructions.
Below is a photo of Diana and Aram with Armina Darbinian at AAA Yerevan Office.

At the Armenian Development Agency they met with ADA director Robert Harutyunyan.

 (from left to right: Diana Oganesyan, Aram Kavoukjian, Robert Harutyunyan, Armina Darbinian)

Also, they all went to ACNIS, where they participated in a discussion and met with Richard Giragossian, the head of ACNIS.

(from left to right: Richard Giragossian, Aram Bedrosian, Armina Darbinian, Diana Ogensyan, Aram Kavoukjian)

Aram is to do his internship at ACNIS (Armenian Center for National and International Studies). So he received instructions from Richard Giragossian. 

Aram Bedrosian, Diana Oganesyan, Aram Kavoukjian arrive

On Sunday, around 6 AM the airplane which carried Aram Bedrosian, landed at Zvartnots Airport, Yerevan. Five minutes before boarding Aram wrote in his Facebook page "Boarding in 5min". Yep, Aram was counting the days, the hours and the minutes till his arrival to Armenia... "7 days" "5 days" "ready set hayastan!" :)Now he is here.
Diana Oganesyan and Aram Kavoukjian arrived this morning. Now they are probably asleep in their rooms, or maybe awake... who knows. But they're here, at home.:)
Both, according to their FB statuses, are very excited.
Diana had previously written in her essay "I have been dreaming of a summer as an intern in Armenia for as long as I could remember. Many roadblocks have emerged each summer, such as no passport, and age limits. All obstacles have been lifted this year..."
And Aram..."During my last visit to Armenia, summer of 2008, we visited an Armenian day care for underprivileged children and the elderly named Orran. Here after spending a few hours with some of the kids we were making a collage with, hearing their stories and seeing these kids very happy was one of the best parts of my visit to Armenia. That day was one of the first days that I can truly say I volunteered my time to help out my Armenian brothers and sisters, and I enjoyed every part of it. After that experience at Orran I was trying to find another opportunity to go back to Armenia and work as a volunteer or an intern for my homeland."

Me and Katia are very excited to meet them this afternoon.
I will later send them co-author invitations so that they themselves can write about their arrivals, their anticipations and thoughts.